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In May and June 2021, reports emerged online that Mike Flynn, former Army general, former national security advisor, an ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, and a prominent supporter of discredited conspiracy theories, had expressed support for the idea of a military coup in the United States. On May 30, for example, the left-leaning website Mediaite reported that: Similar articles were published by The Hill, Dallas Morning News, and Marketwatch. Those reports contained accurate descriptions of what Flynn said at a conference in Dallas, Texas, over the weekend of May 28-30, 2021. However, Flynn quickly backtracked on his remarks, writing online, There is NO reason whatsoever for any coup in America. As a result, we are issuing a rating of Mixture. The remarks in question came during a panel discussion at the For God & Country Patriot Roundup in Dallas, Texas, which took place between May 28 and 31, 2021. Video footage of Flynn's comments first emerged online on May 30, which suggests that was the date on which he made them, though we have not yet been able to verify that definitively. Two separate video clips posted to Twitter show the following exchange between an unnamed audience member, and Flynn: In February, military leaders in the southeast Asian nation of Myanmar (also known as Burma), carried out a coup. It was to this that the audience member referred when he asked why what happened in Minamar [Myanmar] can't happen in the United States. Flynn's response — No reason. I mean, it should happen — clearly meant he was expressing support, at least in principle, for a military coup in the United States. News reports that characterized his remarks in that way were therefore accurate. However, on May 31 Flynn appeared to backtrack on those comments. On the social media platform Telegram, he wrote: Sidney Powell, an attorney who represents Flynn, confirmed for Snopes that @RealGenFlynn is an authentic Telegram account and that the May 31 message was composed by Flynn himself. In writing, There is no reason it (a coup) should happen here (in America), Flynn was not repeating his response at the conference. In reality, he said the opposite at the conference. But it remains the case that, shortly afterwards, he clearly articulated opposition to the idea of a military coup in the United States. As a result of this backtrack, we are issuing a rating of Mixture.
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